The art of stud welding, is well known. The present invention is directed to that part of the stud welding art employing a manual stud welding tool. Prior art workers have devised a number of different types of stud welding tools, all of which operate in substantially the same manner. The tool operator manually mounts an individual stud on the electrode of the tool, which is typically in the form of a cylindrical collet for holding a stud. The operator then causes the tool to press the free end of the stud against the workpiece surface at the position to which the stud is to be mounted. Electrical current is imparted to the stud which is slightly raised from the workpiece to initiate an arc. The free end surface of the stud and the adjacent surface area of the workpiece are rendered molten by the arc. The molten end of the stud is pressed against the molten surface of the workpiece to weld the stud to the workpiece, and the electrical current is turned off. The tool is then manually pulled off of the stud and is ready to receive a new stud.
The prior art tools are characterized by the fact that each stud to be welded to the workpiece must be individually and manually engaged with the tool electrode. This requires a considerable amount of manipulation and inconvenience, and increases the time required to weld each stud. Furthermore, a given tool may be used with studs of multiple different diameters, but in a typical tool, to use a different diameter stud the electrode of the tool must be removed and replaced with an appropriately sized electrode to hold the new stud diameter.